1856 to 2026 – DIY outsider music, from Aotearoa NZ and beyond
It was broadcast on Saturday 15th of April – hear the podcast online.
Terry’s Songwriters Show is a weekly programme hosted by Terry Shore – who is a singer/song-writer himself.
Continue reading “the Electricka Zoo on Access Radio this Saturday”
Next appearing at Fringe Bar in Wellington, Tuesday 28th March 2017, 8:45pm. Free entry.
The Electricka Zoo are one of Wellington’s most intriguing new live bands, a bass/guitar and live electronica duo of Dave Black and the Digitator. They combine influences from EDM, punk rock, jazz, reggae, Balkan and Portuguese music into their own homegrown NZ sound.
Keep an eye and two ears out for their first album, coming soon.
In the meantime a vinyl-only 7″ single and collection of early (2015-2016) demos on Soundcloud are available.
Music video from the album ‘South Island Sessions‘, set in 19th century New Zealand with an ecological theme. ‘The Ballad of William Knife’ was the name of the show we took to the Dunedin Fringe Festival in 2006.
See also the videos for ‘Bandit Joe on a Scraded Gat’ and ‘BFD’
1861 revisited – Continue reading “the Ballad of William Knife”
The post-punk big band Ascension Band convened in 2003-2005… here’s the 2004 lineup performing at the Meatwaters Festival at Happy in Wellington.
| Nigel Patterson – hammond organ & conductor Dave Edwards – guitar & electronics Mike Kingston – guitar Jesse Toews – bass Warwick Donald – bass Antony Milton – violin & electronics Damian Stewart – laptop Jason Secto – cornet Simon O’Rorke – percussion Myles Climo – drums |
The following year we won best music award in the 2005 Wellington Fringe Festival
“With elements of punk, post-punk, jazz, classical, straight rock, opera and music hall, the Ascension Band are that rare thing: Something Wholly Other. They retain avant garde cred and still manage to rock harder than AC/DC.” – www.varsity.co.nz
| Dave Edwards – electric guitar & electronics Nigel Patterson – hammond organ & conductor Will Rattray – electric guitar Bell Murphy – bass Warwick Donald – bass Murray Stewart – keyboards Damian ‘Frey’ Stewart – laptop Ryan Prebble – tone generator Sam Jenks – trumpet Felicity Perry – vocal Atushi Iseki – vocal Matt Baxter – drums Greta Welson – drums |
This riff
Continue reading “Ascension Band 2005”“Worth searching out coz this lo-fi singer/songwriter oddball has a unique take on the genre. He’s pissed off, a tad fucked up (as usual), but not full of lugubrious self-pity (as unusual) and is happy to get raucous & obnoxious in just the right kinda way.” – Chris Knox
Scratched Surface is a genuine 1990s teenage no-budget lo-fi post-punk singer-songwriter artifact from the Taranaki, New Zealand underground. It includes both electric and acoustic tracks1.
The title alludes to its status as a first effort from fiffdimension2, with much more to come (‘scratching the surface’). It also suggests scratches on a disc, reflecting the lo-fi production values and a slightly ‘damaged’ pre-millennial teenager outlook.
I didn’t come from a conventional musical background. Instead of learning to play cover songs first, I skipped straight to writing my own3. The musicianship is rudimentary, and the lyrics are full of youthful angst – but also self-aware humour and ironic detachment.
“One day I’m gonna be a star, but I can’t be bothered to practice my guitar.
I’m not gonna sing you a cover song, ’cause I’d only make it sound all wrong.
I got the ‘can’t play for shit and my voice is shot to hell’ blues”
The album also includes early forays into free improvisation, in tracks like King Street Boogie and Eat the Noise.
It was recorded on analogue reel-to-reel and cassette tapes, and self-released on CD-R. The online reissue includes download-only bonus tracks and previously unreleased material.
Recorded in New Plymouth, NZ, 1997-1998
Special thanks to Alastair Edwards, Keith Finnerty, Karl Taylor, Brian Wafer
The first collaboration with even more legendary & underground NZ artist Snake Beings.
Ngumbang is the first collaborative album by two of New Zealand’s more unusual artist/musician/filmmaker/ethnomusicologists.
Performed on guitars, bass, banjo, percussion, saxophones, clarinets, harmonicas, synthesisers, Okinawan sanshin, ukulele, violin, loop pedal, piano, drums and spoken word.
The title ‘Ngumbang’ is an Indonesian word that refers to the slight difference in tuning between a pair of gamelan instruments, which gives gamelan music its shimmering quality.
The album name reflects a shared interest in ethnomusicology and experimentation, and the almost-but-not-quite-equivalent approaches of these two artists.
The album was recorded in and near Auckland, New Zealand in 2014–2015 and includes live performances at Vitamin S and the Audio Foundation.
who over several decades has travelled intensively in Spain, Holland, the Middle East, Mexico, America and Japan, is a New Zealand / British experimental filmmaker and musician who has produced over 40 independently released film soundtrack CDs and made a number of short experimental and narrative films in Spain, U.K. and New Zealand. www.snakebeings.co.nz
originally from Taranaki and active since the late 90s on the NZ underground music scene, began by fusing acoustic songs, noisy postpunk, spoken word and avant-garde improvisation – and has diversified further from there. Notable performances include the award-winning 14-piece Ascension Band, appearing as an international artist at the Liquid Architecture Festival in Brisbane, Australia, and teaching a thousand Okinawan school students to perform a haka. www.fiffdimension.com
| 1. | Huia Vortex (feat. Nat da Hatt) 03:56 |
| 2. | The Feathered Serpent Sings Again 05:13 |
| 3. | Illbelly Gritts 03:57 |
| 4. | Watching a Painting Melt 01:47 |
| 5. | さくら さくら (Japanese folk song) – live at the Audio Foundation 04:52 |
| 6. | Pig in the Bamboo 01:47 |
| 7. | Live at Vitamin S (#1.5) 04:37 |
| 8. | Pick up the Pieces (after the gig) 04:48 |
| 9. | Pick up the Pieces (after the jam session) 04:45 |
| 10. | Ornery Return Cravings 02:40 |
| 11. | kuningan dan perunggu (Indonesian brass and bronze) 02:50 |
| 12. | So Long Notes 06:01 |
A compilation of songs, spoken word and instrumentals from the early phase of my gloriously unsuccessful career:
“Whilst shopping from fiffdimension, make sure to get hold of ‘Gleefully Unknown’ – a best-of compilation of Dave Edwards’ music from 1997 to 2005. Rough outsider folk-blues mysteries, dissonant rock textures, electric and acoustic improvisations…
“Edwards strikes me as one of the most overlooked musicians from the fertile lands of New Zealand and if you need a fresh start this might very well be the place.” – Mats Gustafsson, The Broken Face
by Dave Edwards (acoustic & electric guitars, harmonica, bass, banjo, vocal), with
Featuring tracks from the albums
… if you enjoy this, try the sequels Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012 and Other Islands: 2012-2018
fiffdimension 